262 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



on this continent such another organized band of 

 thieves and pirates as have there seized upon gov- 

 ernmental authority. Claims are going in constantly 

 to the office of the secretary of state in Washington 

 for redress, and it will be given. 



I do not purpose going into detail, but in order 

 to show the serious international character of the 

 conflict, I will mention one line of their perfidious 

 and infamous operations. Prospectors are required 

 to take out licenses, for which they are charged a 

 high price. When a prospector strikes a valuable 

 claim he is approached by an official who demands 

 to see his license. It is handed to him, and he 

 immediately stamps across the face of it "Good for 

 quartz only." There is no quartz yet discovered 

 on the upper Yukon. The miner is ousted and his 

 claim seized upon. 



Another method, not so obviously within the 

 purview of international law, which has become so 

 flagrant that redress is being asked of our govern- 

 ment, is this: When an American prospector finds 

 "pay dirt" his claim is jumped and an injunction 

 issued to stop his working it till the case is decided. 

 The case is never decided, but is postponed from 

 time to time, till the prospector is starved out and 

 leaves. There are enough of such instances to 

 show that it is a system. The judiciary is as cor- 

 rupt as the other departments of the government. 

 It must not be supposed that the Klondike pirates 

 victimize Americans alone. A Canadian told me 



